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Rev War Tales E Pluribus Unum 19 October 1782, London and Paris. Lord Shelburne’s government pursued peace talks that treated the United States as a single sovereign partner rather than thirteen separate colonies. By mid-October 1782, the Earl of Shelburne, Secretary of State for American affairs, had already authorized a revised commission (21 September) empowering Richard Oswald to treat with “the Thirteen United States of America.” American commissioners, especially John Jay, had refused to negotiate on any other basis. Around 19–20 October, further instructions went to Paris on fisheries, prewar debts, and Loyalist claims—still framed as talks with one American nation. The shift ended the old British hope of peeling off individual states. Preliminary articles followed in November; the definitive Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. Treating Congress as the voice of a sovereign United States was the diplomatic hinge of the peace. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Rev War Tales World Turned Upside Down 19 October 1781, Yorktown, Virginia. Brigadier General Charles O’Hara surrenders Lord Cornwallis’s army; some 7,000–8,000 British and Hessian troops march into captivity, ending the war’s last great campaign in America. On 19 October 1781, with Cornwallis pleading illness, Brigadier General Charles O’Hara led the garrison out of Yorktown between lines of French and American troops. He offered the sword first to Rochambeau, who directed him to Washington; Washington, in turn, had Major General Benjamin Lincoln accept it. About 7,200 soldiers and hundreds of sailors laid down their arms. Siege losses are commonly given as roughly 150–160 British killed and 300-plus wounded, about 60 French killed and nearly 200 wounded, and some 80–90 Americans killed and 300 wounded. The capitulation did not instantly end all fighting, but it broke British will in the main theater and made peace—and American independence—inevitable. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Rev War Tales Escape from New York 19 October 1775, New York Harbor. Facing imminent arrest by local Sons of Liberty and radical Whigs, Royal Governor William Tryon flees aboard the merchant vessel Duchess of Gordon. Escaping the growing anti-British hostility in Manhattan, Tryon establishes a floating headquarters, safely anchored under the guns of the Royal Navy. For nearly eleven months, he governs the rebel-controlled province from the ship’s cabin. From this afloat stronghold, Tryon directs Loyalist intelligence operations, issues land grants, and orchestrates a plot to assassinate General George Washington until General William Howe's forces capture New York in late August 1776. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Classic Yankee Doodle Spies: The Queen’s Ranger yankeedoodlespies.blogspot.c…

Rev War Tales Annapolis Tea Party 19 October 1774, Annapolis, Maryland. A crowd forced the burning of the brig Peggy Stewart and the tea in her hold. The ship was set afire with her sails and colors still flying. The brig, principally owned by Anthony Stewart, had arrived with about 2,320 pounds of tea in seventeen packages. A London merchant had put the tea aboard without the captain’s full consent. Stewart paid the duty, which broke the colonial agreement against tea. The local committee and a gathering of people from the country demanded satisfaction. Stewart and the Williams brothers met Charles Carroll. They agreed to burn the tea and print an apology. The crowd wanted the ship as well. On the nineteenth, Stewart, with others, went aboard and set the vessel alight. She burned to the waterline before a large number of spectators. The act was Maryland’s answer to the Boston Port Act and the continuing ban on tea. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Rev War Tales Stonewalled at Pelham 18 October 1776, Pell's Point, New York. Colonel John Glover’s 750 Massachusetts Continentals fought a brilliant delaying action, thwarting General William Howe’s attempt to encircle George Washington’s army at Kingsbridge. Landing 4,000 British and Hessian troops at Pell’s Point (Pelham Manor) in Westchester County, Howe sought to cut off the Continental Army’s retreat from the Island of New York (Manhattan). Recognizing the danger, Glover deployed his brigade along Split Rock Road, behind successive stone walls. With disciplined fire and tactical maneuvering, the Americans poured murderous volleys into the advancing columns, ambushing leading units before falling back to the next position. Glover’s resolute stand bought critical time for Washington to safely evacuate his forces to White Plains. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Rev War Tales Charleston Payback 18 October 1781, Yorktown, Virginia. Colonel John Laurens and the Vicomte de Noailles met with British officers at the Moore House to settle the articles of capitulation. General George Washington had already fixed the main points. The drummer had beaten the parley the day before. Cornwallis asked for a twenty-four-hour cease-fire and commissioners. Washington named Laurens, his aide, to represent the Americans. The Comte de Rochambeau named Noailles to represent the French. The British side included officers from Cornwallis’s staff. Washington’s reply on the seventeenth had already refused the British request to send the troops home on parole. The garrisons of York and Gloucester would be prisoners of war. On the honors of war, the allies were firm. In May 1780, at Charleston, the British required the American garrison to march with colors cased. Laurens, who had been there, would not grant the reverse. When a British major called the article harsh, Laurens answered that the nation, not the man, was being considered. They finished the articles the next day. The British infantry would march with colors cased. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Rev War Tales Falmouth Aflame 18 October 1775, Falmouth, Massachusetts (now Portland, Maine). After warning the inhabitants the day before, Lieutenant Henry Mowat opened fire from His Majesty’s Ship Canceaux and consorts, including the schooner Halifax, a bomb vessel, and other craft. The bombardment lasted about nine hours. Marines then went ashore to ignite buildings the shells had not already set alight. Fire swept through much of the waterfront. Hundreds of structures—often cited as some 400 houses and buildings—were ruined, and shipping in the harbor was burned or seized. Casualties were few because most people had fled. Coming after Lexington and Bunker Hill, the deliberate burning of a civilian port was denounced as barbarity, stiffened New England resistance, and helped convince Congress that a Continental navy and harsher measures against Britain were necessary. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Rev War Tales John Brown’s Raid (Not that One) 17 October 1775, Chambly, Quebec. Two American bateaux slipped past the British-held Fort Saint-Jean, carrying nine-pounder guns. Major John Brown (sorry, not that one), with about fifty Continentals and some three hundred Canadians raised by James Livingston, surrounded the thin-walled stone fort at Chambly, ten miles downstream. Timothy Bedel’s New Hampshire regiment was part of the broader force investing Saint-Jean. After a brief bombardment that punched holes in the masonry, Major Joseph Stopford surrendered the eighty-man garrison of the 7th Foot on 18 October. The Americans seized six tons of powder, thousands of cartridges, mortars, arms, and provisions. The bloodless capture isolated Saint-Jean, supplied Montgomery’s army, and yielded the first British colors taken in the war. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Rev War Tales Drumbeat of Peace 17 October 1781, Yorktown, Virginia. A British drummer mounts the parapet and beats a parley. An officer under a flag of truce is brought in with a letter from Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. The allied second parallel was close. Redoubts 9 and 10 had fallen on the fourteenth. British guns were mostly silenced. Desertion was heavy. That morning, Cornwallis wrote General George Washington, proposing a cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours and a meeting of two officers from each side at Moore’s house to settle terms for the posts of York and Gloucester. The basis he offered was that the garrisons become prisoners of war, with the customary honors, and that the British be sent to Britain and the Germans to Germany under parole. Washington’s reply that same day accepted the garrisons as prisoners and refused the voyage home. Commissioners were named. The guns fell silent while the paper was written. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

The Surgeon Counterinsurgent yankeedoodlespies.blogspot.c…

Rev War Tales Surrender at Saratoga 17 October 1777, Saratoga, New York. Burgoyne and Gates settle a “convention”; the next day, the British army lays down its arms, marking the first surrender of a British field army in the war. On 16 October 1777, General John Burgoyne, surrounded after Bemis Heights and with no relief from Clinton, met with General Horatio Gates. Styled a convention rather than an unconditional surrender, the pact allowed the troops to march to Boston and sail for England on parole not to serve again in North America. On 17 October, more than 5,000 British, German, and Canadian soldiers laid down their arms; cannons and thousands of muskets were handed over to the Americans. Congress later refused to honor the embarkation, and most of the “Convention Army” remained prisoners. Burgoyne himself was permitted to go home and did not return. News of the victory helped bring France into an open alliance in 1778. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Rev War Tales Divine Wind 16 October 1780, Havana, Cuba. Governor & Field Marshal Bernardo de Gálvez departed Havana with a mixed force of Spanish regulars, colonial troops, free Black and mixed-race companies, and Indian allies—about 3,800 soldiers aboard a fleet of warships and dozens of transports under José Solano. The objective was British-held Pensacola, the capital of West Florida. Within two days, a hurricane scattered and damaged the armada, sinking or driving ships as far as Campeche, Mobile, and New Orleans. No assault could be mounted that autumn. A “divine wind” had spared the British garrison. Gálvez regrouped in Cuba, hoping to return in 1781 to besiege Pensacola. The aborted 1780 voyage demonstrated both Spain’s commitment to the Gulf campaign and the deadly cost of operating in hurricane season. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Book six in the Yankee Doodle Spies series is now available for your listening enjoyment on Audible! Lanyard Press has partnered with Amazon to bring The South Spy to your favorite device. Experience Rev War Action & Intrigue, Southern-Style! Lieutenant Jeremiah Creed sails to Georgia and the Carolinas to thwart Britain's new "Southern Strategy." Pitched battles, full sieges, skirmishes, raids, and ambushes are part of the brutal struggle. Spies, scouts, and sedition abound as both Savannah and Charleston are threatened. Can The South Spy succeed? Click now and find out... audible.com/pd/The-South-Spy…

Rev War Tales Royalton Raid 16 October 1780, Royalton, Vermont Republic. British Lieutenant Richard Houghton’s party burned the White River settlements. Most of the men and boys who did not flee were taken. Houghton of the 53rd Foot led about 300 Kahnawake Mohawk and some Abenaki, along with a handful of British regulars, down from Canada. The raid was one of several that autumn meant to strike the New England frontier while other columns moved on the lakes and the Mohawk. They reached the valley on the fifteenth and struck at dawn on the sixteenth. Royalton, Sharon, and Tunbridge were hit. Houses and barns went up in flames. Livestock was killed and crops destroyed. Four settlers were killed. Twenty-six were carried off to Quebec. Women and girls were left behind. The local militia gathered and caught the column near Randolph the next day. A few shots were exchanged. Houghton warned that the captives might be killed if the fight continued. The militia let the raiders go. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

Vintage Yankee Doodle Spies: Heath in the Highlands yankeedoodlespies.blogspot.c…

Rev War Tales Good Council at Kingsbridge 16 October 1776, near King’s Bridge, New York. General George Washington holds a council of war at Major General Charles Lee’s quarters. The officers decide the army cannot stay on Manhattan. British ships had already forced the Hudson on the ninth. On the twelfth, General William Howe’s troops had landed at Throg’s Neck and were working toward the American rear. Deserters and local reports said the enemy meant to cut the road north. The council asked whether the army could still hold its line to the country or would have to fight at a disadvantage or be taken. All but Brigadier General George Clinton agreed it could not. The vote was to move. They would hold Fort Washington as long as possible. About 2,000 men stayed in the works on the height. The main body turned toward White Plains. The island was no longer defensible with an open river behind it. #RevWar #History #AmRev #RevWarTales

You can also find me on my Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/stores/author/B00… Or my Substack substack.com/@SWOConnell And at my author website swoconnell.com